[DECtalk] History of the DECtalk Archive

Thu Jul 12 10:18:11 EDT 2012

The website dectalk.com has 5.0. When you click "check out the Archive," one of your 
options will be "Dectalk Software and Manuals." I believe 5.0 is the only version left there. 
It's a Gwmicro thing, so you'll get that option once you click "Dectalk Software and 
Manuals."
Tyler Z
On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:11:58 -0400, Alex H. wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Awesome little lesson there. I was a latecomer to this list, first
>stumbling upon DECtalk in 2006, but all I could find was the terrible
>4.61 version that everyone seemed to dislike, and didn't sound like
>any of the demos I found online made by Patrick and others. Sad times.
>
>Two years later, I was running across old list results in Google, and
>I found someone mention speak43. I knew that was what I was going for,
>DECtalk 4.3. I did some digging, and eventually found the Speak43 and
>its associated data. I then seriously began learning DECtalk phonemes
>in late 2008 with the aid of some demos and text files, and plenty of
>soft drinks. :)
>
>I pulled down a copy of the Archive in 2010 for my own local use so as
>not to suck up any more bandwidth and have most of the DECtalk
>versions. I'm only missing the 5.0 speak window. If anyone's got it, I
>want it. Badly. It'll round out my collection nicely.
>
>Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, Jayson. That was awesome.
>Alex
>
>On 7/11/12, Blake Roberts <beroberts at hughes.net> wrote:
>>That was a very interesting lesson. Although I first joined this list in
>>late 2004 or early 2005, I had forgotten some of the history due to the
>>passage of time. Jayson, it has been my experience during the past 7 years
>>that you are an excellent list moderator. You are both helpful and fair,
>>which are both great leadership qualities. It is my hope that you will
>>continue hosting this listserv on BlueGrassPals for a long time yet. I
>>consider this Dectalk listserv to be an invaluable resource.
>>Blake
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com
>>[mailto:dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com] On Behalf Of Jayson Smith
>>Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 8:30 PM
>>To: DECtalk Discussions
>>Subject: [DECtalk] History of the DECtalk Archive
>>
>>Okay, class, get back in your seats and pay attention, since I'm going to
>>teach a little history lesson. There will be a pop quiz on this material
>>sometime next week. Hehe, just fooling around here, but this is gonna get a
>>bit long.
>>
>>So when I first came in contact with the DECtalk archive it was being
>>hosted
>>by Andre Louis. This was in October of 2003. Over time Andre started to get
>>more and more annoyed at the bandwidth burden the DECtalk archive had
>>become. He eventually started asking for donations, and put a password on
>>the archive for a little while. Around this same time, I, Jayson Smith,
>>proud owner of my very own Linux server, was looking for ways I could use
>>that server to give to the community. One of my early ideas was to
>>establish
>>a mirror of the DECtalk archive. So I ran my mirror, Andre got more and
>>more
>>annoyed/annoying, the less of which said the better, until finally on
>>August
>>18, 2005, he pulled the plug permanently. Here's the Email I sent out to
>>this very list when I discovered this fact.
>>
>>Hello,
>>Having attempted to access the official archive at Andre's site less than
>>an
>>hour ago, it appears that he has silently pulled the plug, finally.  As far
>>as I am concerned, this leaves me as the de facto archive maintainer.  As
>>such, here are a few things I want everybody to know.
>>1.  The Red Dwarf files are staying.  I know this is a bit risky given US
>>copyright law, but I don't see lawyers banging on my door right now, so
>>don't think it's a real huge deal.  If it ever becomes one, the files will
>>be removed and someone in the UK can host them, but hopefully that won't be
>>necessary.  I have set up an ftp account exclusively for those involved
>>with
>>the uploading of Red Dwarf files, and a script which moves these files to
>>the red_dwarf directory once an hour.  If you are involved in the upload
>>process, please write me off-list at ratguy at bellsouth.net and I will
>>provide
>>the username and password.  To prevent abuse, this account is only
>>available
>>to people who upload Red Dwarf episodes and not to anybody else, and it
>>will
>>be removed after dt8-8 has been uploaded.
>>2.  All other files are staying.  If Tony took over the archive, he had
>>already stated that some files would be removed.  I don't want to do that,
>>because then I'm being the judge of what is and is not acceptable.  If
>>things get out of hand I may have to implement some rules, but for now,
>>everything stays.
>>3.  File upload is currently unavailable.  I am looking for a secure
>>mechanism to make this happen.  It must be secure against people
>>downloading
>>from the upload area, people deleting uploaded files, and people
>>overwriting
>>other files by uploading new files with the same names.  Any suggestions
>>are
>>welcomed.  What I'd love to find is a web-based solution which would allow
>>people to upload files, it Emails me saying there's a new upload, I look at
>>the file then approve or reject it as appropriate.
>>4.  If there is enough demand, I will make a torrent of all or part of the
>>archive from time to time.
>>5.  Although I hope to find a secure solution to the file upload problem,
>>even if this archive remains forever static with the exception of Red
>>Dwarf,
>>I have no problem with hosting it for as long as anyone wants.
>>6.  I will write a new Readme file as soon as possible.
>>7.  I reserve the right to investigate possible mirroring options, and if
>>bandwidth usage gets out of hand, I reserve the right to restrict
>>downloading directly from me to mirror sites, install bandwidth limiting
>>modules, or take other actions to eliminate the problem.  However, I will
>>make every effort to investigate possible alternatives before I remove the
>>archive or ask for donations.
>>If you have any questions or comments about this announcement, feel free to
>>write to the list, or to me personally at ratguy at bellsouth.net.
>>Thanks.
>>Jayson Smith
>>
>>From what I remember, I pretty much did what I said I'd do in that message.
>>
>>I did eventually find a way to allow file upload, and also set up a few
>>directories for specific people to upload files. On December 23, 2005, I
>>set
>>up a mirror of the archive through Planetmirror. Less than a year later, an
>>error on my end caused that mirror to be deleted. I did eventually have to
>>put a bandwidth limit on the archive. Things went well until October 21,
>>2008, when Insight, our cable ISP, did a port scan and found open ports on
>>our IP. They suspended our service until I closed all the ports. Obviously
>>this meant my then over four-year-old Linux server had just become a lot
>>less useful. So I got a VPS from a hosting company and moved everything to
>>that server. Things were going okay, but the DECtalk archive was becoming a
>>huge bandwidth concern. Finally, on March 15, 2009, I decided to pull the
>>plug, with this message:
>>
>>Hello,
>>
>>I'm sorry it has come to this... As some of you know, I was forced to
>>switch from running my own server to using a hosting provider. This
>>provider, openhosting.com, meters bandwidth. So far this month, I have had
>>unusually high bandwidth utilization, and estimates are that my charges
>>will
>>exceed my commit rate by at least a few dollars. Looking at website
>>statistics, it's clear to see that the DECtalk archive is accounting for an
>>extremely high percentage of web traffic and/or bandwidth utilization. I
>>always had my mind made up that I would host the DECtalk archive as long as
>>it didn't actually cost anything. Now however, it might actually cost extra
>>money to run the archive. For this reason, and in an attempt to keep the
>>charges from going over my monthly commit rate, I have moved the archive to
>>an area of my server inaccessible to the public either via FTP or HTTP,
>>effective immediately. Please note, though, that nothing has been deleted
>>from my server, only moved out of public access areas.
>>I have a feeling that some person or persons, probably outside this
>>list, are running poorly written or misconfigured mirroring programs. They
>>seem to be downloading the same files over and over and over again. I am
>>willing to work with anybody who wishes to host the archive, and at this
>>point, I would be willing to turn it over to somebody else full-time. If
>>anybody is interested, please step forward and we'll work something out.
>>It's been a great run, since I more or less took the archive over by
>>default
>>in August of 2005. However, I am no longer willing to support the humongous
>>bandwidth hog the archive has become. Note however, that I will continue to
>>run this mailing list for as long as anybody wants. This list is a very
>>low-bandwidth affair as compared to the archive.
>>If anyone has any thoughts, please share them. I will not delete my
>>copy of the archive, and will cooperate fully in making it available to
>>anyone who wishes to take it over.
>>Thanks for your understanding.
>>Jayson
>>
>>That was pretty much the end of my involvement with the DECtalk archive.
>>I'm
>>pretty sure Tony Baechler hosted it for a while. Now Christopher Toth is
>>hosting it I believe.
>>Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane!
>>Jayson
>>
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